World Liberty Financial (WLFI), a company closely tied to the family of the U.S. president, has received conditional approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to establish a trust bank. This is a landmark event that moves the project from a purely cryptocurrency-focused sphere into the realm of traditional finance, but it simultaneously raises sharp questions about the regulator's independence.
The review process took seven months. Final approval depends on meeting a number of conditions, including hiring an external auditor and maintaining a set level of capital. Notably, three key investors, including one of the president's sons, have voluntarily agreed to limit their influence over the management of the future bank. This step appears to be an attempt to preemptively defuse accusations of direct family control, but it is unlikely to fully eliminate the conflict of interest.
My analysis shows that this is just the tip of the iceberg. In the first 19 months of Trump's second term, the OCC approved 22 banking licenses — more than in the previous five years combined. Most of them went to fintech companies and digital asset market players, including Circle and Coinbase. We are witnessing an unprecedented liberalization of the banking sector toward the crypto industry, and WLFI is clearly moving along with this trend.
The company emphasizes that the federal charter will, on the contrary, strengthen oversight and help scale the use of the USD1 stablecoin. By their logic, the future bank will become the custodian of reserves backing the stablecoin. However, this raises legitimate concerns among Democrats and a number of experts. Aaron Klein, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, rightly notes that "creating the illusion of government support for stablecoins is a real danger." In response, WLFI representative David Waxman insists that the project is not avoiding oversight but is moving under the OCC's permanent control, maintaining anti-money laundering requirements and weekly independent audits of reserves.
My expert assessment: The situation surrounding WLFI is a classic example of how the regulatory environment becomes a battleground for political struggle. It is telling that 63% of Americans, according to recent polls, consider Trump's cryptocurrency income inappropriate. Despite formal assurances of transparency, this case sets a dangerous precedent, calling into question the impartiality of U.S. financial authorities in the era of digital assets.